Deák Antal András: A Duna fölfedezése
Tartalom - III.A DANUBIUS PANNONICO-MYSICUS, 1726
THE DISCOVERY OF THE DANUBE in a Turkish camp. He saw many 15-16 year old slaves as well. At night, he freed himself from his chains and tried to run away through the sleeping Turks. They noticed him and took him to his master who had him flogged, chained and gave orders to execute him the next day. In the morning, the two Bosnians heard what had happened, hastened to the pasha and bought him for 24 thalers with the intention of selling him to the owner of a serai in Bosnia for 100 Venetian gold coins. Marsigli told them that he would be worth 200 thalers to them if he could send a letter to the Venetian envoy. The Bosnians accepted his suggestion, but further difficulties yet awaited him. He fled with the Turkish army from below the walls of Vienna barefoot, bound to the stirrups of the horse of his new masters. When he could no longer walk, he was thrown on a lead horse. They arrived beneath Pannonhalma hungry and thirsty, fleeing the Christian army, where his masters stole grapes. Here a courier reported to Kara Mustafa that the pursuers had reached the Rába. The high vizier ordered the slaughter of the slaves so that they would not hamper his flight. However, hopes of a high ransom rescued Marsigli's life once again. At Esztergom, the fleeing Turkish army calmed down and their small group dropped back from the troops, partly because Marsigli could not keep up with them. He was exhausted when they arrived in Buda. After a short stay they travelled on towards Bosnia. The planned slave-trade failed in Sarajevo, so his masters took him to their smoky hut three days' walk from there on the Rama river, which was already occupied by their two brothers, their wives and children. He awaited a better fate in chains, pestered by lice. His kidneys stopped functioning. A Franciscan monk visited him and took care of his physical and spiritual needs. When he recovered, he was forced to pen another letter, in which his owners demanded 300 pieces of Venetian gold as well as goods equivalent to 100 pieces of gold for him. Marsigli addressed his letter to his friends in Venice and Bologna. A favourable answer arrived and the castle of Dovaria was specified for the scene of the exchange. The Turkish castellan, however, threatened them with arrest. So they fled back to their hut. One day, a Turk arrived in worn clothing with another suggestion of how to carry out the exchange, and this time it ended in success. After the bargain was struck, they embraced Marsigli and organised a farewell dinner for him. 2 7 He was given a horse, and left the house at night in the company of the Turk who had acted as an intermediary. They reached safety after a two nights' ride to the house of a gentleman called Marco Bassi. From here, he was led to the Franciscan monastery, where he could finally take a bath and put on fresh clothes. He spent the Easter holidays in Split in the beach house of Antonio Mozato, a tradesman, whose friendship he had won on the way to Constantinople in 1679. Here, he boarded a ship, which sailed into the harbour of Venice four days later. 2 8 During the journey, Marsigli the slave had become goods of an increasingly precious kind, and not only to his masters. He gathered important data about the internal problems and military plans of the Turkish camp and, while they paused beneath Buda, he used the sap of a plant to make a sketch of the Turkish defensive system, which was used three years later in the successful siege of Buda. At Eszék, he also used the sap of a plant to mark down militarily important details. Further along in the Balkans, he studied the road, transport and trading conditions in Bosnia, which were included in his study on commerce in 1699. Marsigli's chains are exhibited in the Museo Archeologico in Bologna. 2 9 2 7 In 1699, Marsigli found his former slave-owners during the demarcation of the frionticr. They appeared before him impoverished and broken. 2 8 For more details see: Gróf László: Marsigli gróf élete (The life of Count Marsigli) 1. Cartographica Hungarica no. 2, October, 1992. 2 9 The inscription under the chain goes: Quas conspicis catenas / Aloisius Fcrdinandus Marsilius /Dux exercitus caes. Adversus, turcas, /Bello sauciatus captus / Binis ferme annis in Servitute conpeditus /Libertate recuperata / Magnae Virgini Dei Parenti Designatae / In sacrario instituti huiusce a se conditi donavit / Illoque diruto heic asservandas curavimus - which means: , Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli, ofFtccr of the imperial army fighting against the Turks, wore the chains you can see here during the nearly two years he was held as a slave after being wounded in the war and captured. Having regained his liberty, he donated them to the shrine dedicated to God's mother, the Virgin Mary, which he had founded. And when the shrine was demolished we took care that these chains should be preserved here. IMAGE No. 4 on page 16: Astronomical instruments from the 17th century. • O V ÍVTÁR " AV 1 1 9 9 . A40006
